If the US is anything to go by, the world of mobile telephony is about to get smaller. Last month Sprint Nextel, one of the big four of the US mobile market, received an unsolicited $25.5bn bid from Dish Network, a satellite television company that has been buying up mobile companies.

In Europe, private equity executives are weighing up the possibilities for telecom consolidation of a similar scale, and are positioning themselves to take advantage of any investment opportunities.